Last week a delegation from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare toured abattoirs across the country to learn more about the food hygiene controls in the UK.

It is understood that the inspectors did not visit Scottish abattoirs.

The five-day mission hosted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) included meetings to discuss food controls, animal passports and export health certification.

AHDB’s international market development director, Dr Phil Hadley said: “This visit represents another important step in reopening this lucrative market which has the potential to create some exciting opportunities for our beef and sheep producers here in the UK.

“These inspections come just weeks after China agreed to lift the longstanding ban on UK beef – which is a major boost for UK farmers and producers as well as our global reputation for high quality and welfare.”

US access to Japan

The news comes at the same time that technical requirements have been finalised by the Japanese government, which will allow US sheepmeat and goatmeat to be imported into the country.

These terms will allow US exports of sheep and goat meat to resume.

Last year, Japan imported $169m in sheep and goat meat, primarily from Australia and New Zealand.

One of the Japanese requirements before allowing sheepmeat access to the market place is to have electronic tagging in place.

EU trade deal

The EU and Japan have, earlier this week, signed a free trade agreement.

This could have positive implications for UK agriculture, with dairy goods representing one of the EU’s biggest exports to Japan. If the deal comes into effect before Brexit it could mean that the UK would benefit of the terms for two years during a transition period.